Decolonising the politics of international rugby: the strenuous attempts of Australia, NewZealand and South African to have a say in world rugby affairs in the inter-war period(1919-1949)

Résumé En

As much as the process of giving autonomy to the “white” British colonies of the Southernhemisphere was arduous, the admission of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa into theInternational Rugby Football Board (IRFB) as decision-makers was very challenging. Thoughthe game of rugby flourished in these nations at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning ofthe twentieth century to the extent that it became their national pastime, they could hardly alterthe rules without the permission of the Home Unions. Furthermore, when in 1926, these threedominions officially joined the International Rugby Football Board, it was on an unequalfooting with the British members of the Board, having only one seat each.Therefore, this article aims at outlining how they succeeded to become full members of thesupreme rugby body while reaching the top of rugby performance.To this end, we shall first analyse the demands made by these dominions to the IRFB, at a timewhen the precise dominions’ sovereignty (Lyon, 1982) status was being discussed at a politicallevel. Then, we shall focus on the rugby achievements secured by these former colonies whichsomehow allowed them to give shape to distinctive rules and laws of rugby. We shall finallyexamine the outcome of these requests and the consequences of granting them a status insidethe Board with full privileges.